[Event "IV Menorca Open A 2025"] [Site "Ciutadella de Menorca ESP"] [Date "2025.04.24"] [Round "5.1"] [White "Nihal, Sarin"] [Black "Ivanchuk, V."] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "C11"] [WhiteElo "2687"] [BlackElo "2604"] [PlyCount "140"] [GameId "2171719004883008"] [EventDate "2025.04.22"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "ESP"] [SourceTitle "The Week in Chess 1590"] [Source "Mark Crowther"] [SourceDate "2025.04.28"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.04.28"] [SourceQuality "2"] {[%evp 0,140,21,39,21,18,22,17,20,21,20,26,16,19,40,14,16,10,10,0,11,27,20,0,55,2,36,1,19,24,26,34,33,13,51,24,3,14,22,33,-41,31,0,21,52,19,-1,28,26,19,24,21,22,18,15,-25,25,15,21,19,75,9,10,30,199,27,38,40,16,1,1,-1,-7,-2,-16,0,-2,-7,-1,-9,-1,25,-15,-52,-42,-27,-30,-16,-25,-29,-31,-65,-65,-138,-160,-169,-162,-176,-214,-214,-210,-209,-210,-155,-238,-238,-157,-224,-196,-169,-235,-226,-270,-154,-332,-96,-221,-167,-210,-158,-219,-179,-163,-179,-204,-360,-267,-277,-270,-279,-232,-230,-307,-242,-266,-152,-300,-307,-398,-402,-368,-656,-587]} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Nxf6+ Bxf6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8. Nf3 O-O 9. Qd3 {The main move for some years now. White prepares to castle long and to put the queen on e3 or e4, in part to prevent the e-pawn's advance.} Bd7 10. Qe3 Nc6 11. O-O-O Rad8 $146 (11... Nb4) 12. Bc4 Ne7 13. Ne5 Bc6 14. Nxc6 Nxc6 15. c3 Ne7 16. Rhe1 c6 {Black is extremely solid in this Fort Knox type of position. If White does nothing, a draw is likely, but as we'll see Black will have plenty of resources if White gets ambitious.} 17. Bd3 Nd5 18. Qg3 Qf4+ 19. Qxf4 Nxf4 20. Bf1 Rd7 21. Kc2 Rfd8 22. a4 a5 23. g3 Nd5 24. Re5 Kf8 25. Bc4 g6 26. Rde1 h5 27. h4 Ke7 28. Kd3 Kd6 29. f3 {Looking to play g4, which Black immediately thwarts.} Rh8 30. Bxd5 {Not necessary, but it's hard to even try to make progress with that knight on the board.} cxd5 31. c4 {A calculated risk. The d-pawn will come under fire, and in return White gets more scope for his rooks.} dxc4+ 32. Kxc4 Rc7+ 33. Kd3 b6 34. Rb5 Rc6 35. Re4 Rb8 {Protecting the b-pawn so the c6-rook can go to c1 and start bothering White's pawns.} 36. Re1 Ke7 {Clearing the d-file so the rooks can attack d4.} 37. g4 {Another somewhat double-edged decision, creating both assets and targets.} hxg4 38. fxg4 Rd8 39. Re4 Kf6 40. Rf4+ Kg7 41. h5 Rcd6 42. Ke3 {Preempting a possible ...e5 down the road.} R8d7 43. hxg6 Kxg6 44. g5 Kg7 45. Rh4 Rc7 46. Rh2 $4 {Nihal understandably wants to prevent ...Rc2, but this blunders a pawn.} (46. b3 $11) 46... Rc4 $19 {As I noted above, White's pawn pushes came with risk. Of course he didn't have to blunder the pawn, but it's because he has so many loose pawns that this sort of opportunity arose.} 47. Rd2 Rxa4 48. Ke4 Ra1 49. Ke5 Rc6 50. d5 Re1+ $1 51. Kf4 Rd6 $1 {Keeping White tied down as long as possible.} (51... exd5 $2 52. Rdxd5 {gives White enough activity to (comfortably) hold.}) 52. Rd3 Kg6 {Another weakness!} 53. Rdb3 e5+ $1 54. Kf3 Kxg5 55. Rc3 (55. Rxb6 Rxd5 $19 (55... Rxb6 56. Rxb6 e4+ 57. Kf2 Rd1 58. d6 f5 $19)) 55... Rd1 56. Ke4 Re1+ 57. Kd3 Kf6 (57... f5) 58. Kc2 Re2+ 59. Kd3 Re1 60. Kc2 e4 61. Rc7 Re3 62. b4 a4 $1 {The rook on b5 is trapped! It will escape, but at the cost of trading into a dead lost single-rook endgame.} 63. Rb7 Rd3 64. R7xb6 Rxb6 65. Rxb6+ Ke5 66. Ra6 Rxd5 67. Rxa4 f5 68. Ra8 e3 69. Kc3 Kf4 70. Kc4 Re5 {A very well-played game by Ivanchuk, who took full advantage of the opportunities Nihal provided him.} 0-1 [Event "IV Menorca Open A 2025"] [Site "Ciutadella de Menorca ESP"] [Date "2025.04.27"] [Round "9.1"] [White "Pranesh, M.."] [Black "Ivanchuk, Vasyl"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"] [ECO "B43"] [WhiteElo "2572"] [BlackElo "2604"] [PlyCount "110"] [GameId "2171254500540469"] [EventDate "2025.04.22"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "ESP"] [SourceVersionDate "2025.01.05"] {[%evp 0,110,12,23,18,18,33,70,13,47,9,41,23,109,43,43,48,46,84,107,75,67,78,55,26,31,26,48,26,27,27,24,16,5,-14,-48,-26,-15,-4,-12,-14,-3,-3,-77,-76,-71,-136,-99,-92,-116,-172,-103,-110,-38,-30,-1,-84,-116,-142,-46,-123,-102,-146,-127,-144,-167,-194,-144,-186,-182,-135,-129,-110,-116,-89,-90,-114,-140,-108,-112,-18,-19,-12,-82,-39,-39,52,141,50,77,51,178,56,114,56,60,59,18,-1,1,1,-157,-83,-295,-248,-398,-523,-29983,-29984,-29991,-29992,-29993,-29994]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Qc7 6. Bd3 Bc5 (6... Nf6 {is probably better.}) 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Qg4 Bf6 $2 ({And here} 8... g6 {is definitely better, which is not to say that it's great.}) 9. Bf4 $18 Bxc3+ {Sadly, the best move.} 10. bxc3 Qxc3+ 11. Kf1 $2 (11. Bd2 Qf6 12. f4 ({or} 12. O-O {gives White loads of compensation for the tiny sacrifice - not that he's winning right away.})) 11... Nc6 $14 {Now Black's position is objectively playable, though it remains at least somewhat unpleasant.} 12. Bd6 h5 $1 13. Qg5 Qf6 14. Qc5 $6 (14. h4 $14 {keeps an advantage, whether or not Black trades the queens.}) ({In fact, it may be best for White to go ahead and initiate the trade himself.} 14. Qxf6 Nxf6 15. Nd2 $14) 14... e5 $1 $15 {The hole on d5 is worrisome, but Black can't afford to let White push e4-e5.} 15. Nd2 b6 $1 16. Qa3 Rh6 (16... Nge7) 17. Nc4 $8 b5 18. Nb6 Qxd6 $1 19. Qxd6 Rxd6 20. Nxa8 Nb4 {This is not a game to show beginners! Anyway, Black has good compensation with a pawn for the exchange, semi-targets on a2 and c2, and White's knight out of play.} 21. Nc7+ $6 (21. a4 $1 {would have equalized.} Bb7 22. axb5 $1 Bxa8 23. bxa6 $11 {It's not easy to play like this, however, and I wouldn't describe White's position as out of the woods.}) 21... Kd8 22. Nd5 Nxd3 23. cxd3 Bb7 24. a4 Bxd5 25. exd5 b4 $17 {White's rooks have no obvious targets, so Black should be able to gradually bring his pawn majorities to fruition.} 26. d4 (26. Re1 $142) 26... e4 $6 (26... exd4 27. Ke2 Rxd5 28. Kd3 Ne7 29. Kc4 $1 Rf5 30. Kxd4 Kc7 $1 $17 {/-+}) 27. Ke2 $15 Ne7 28. Rhc1 $2 ({White had to play for king activity:} 28. f3 $1 exf3+ 29. Kxf3 Nxd5 30. Ke4 $15) 28... Nxd5 $19 {White's king is shut out of the game, and his rooks aren't terribly useful either.} 29. Rc5 Nc3+ 30. Ke3 Rc6 31. Rxc6 dxc6 32. Kd2 a5 33. Kc2 Kd7 34. Kb3 Kd6 35. Kc4 f5 36. g3 g5 37. Re1 Nd5 ({Greed was good, too.} 37... Nxa4) 38. Kb3 Nc3 39. Kc4 g4 $4 $11 {What a bizarre move, crippling his own pawn majority! Maybe this was some sort of panic in time trouble.} (39... Nxa4 $19) 40. Rh1 Nd5 41. h3 Nb6+ 42. Kb3 gxh3 $2 {Ivanchuk has had more than his share of tragedies and chokes, and this is on its way to being another. Thankfully for those of us who are long-term Chuky fans, he gets bailed out and his tournament gets a well-deserved happy ending.} (42... Kd5 43. hxg4 hxg4 44. Rh6 $8 Nc4 45. Rf6 $8 Kxd4 46. Rxc6 Nd2+ 47. Kc2 $8 e3 48. fxe3+ $8 Kxe3 49. Rf6 $11) 43. Rxh3 $18 Kd5 44. Rxh5 Kxd4 45. Rh6 $1 Kd5 46. Rf6 Nc4 47. Rxf5+ Ne5 48. g4 c5 49. g5 c4+ {The last critical moment of the game. Where should White's king go?} 50. Kc2 $4 {Not here!} (50. Ka2 $2 {is weird, but it's actually better than the text and should lead to a draw.}) (50. Kb2 $1 {won.} c3+ (50... b3 {doesn't come with a check, and so White has the time he needs to push his g-pawn.} 51. g6 Kd4 52. Rxe5 $1 $18) 51. Kc2 Kd4 (51... Kc4 {doesn't work:} 52. Rxe5 b3+ 53. Kc1 Kd3 54. g6 b2+ 55. Kb1 Kd2 56. Rd5+ $18) 52. Rf8 $18 {and Black can't advance his pawns, while White will inevitably get the g-pawn going.}) 50... Kd4 $1 $19 51. Rf6 b3+ $1 52. Kb2 Nd3+ 53. Ka3 Kc3 54. Rh6 b2 55. Rh1 Nc1 (55... Nc1 {The b-pawn will promote, and unless White plays Rxc1 it will underpromote to a knight, with mate.} 56. g6 b1=N# $1) 0-1